Chapter 38 Xu Yu, can you do me a favor?

Sang Zhixia couldn't bear it anymore.

She burst out laughing, and the people who had been watching the excitement for a while also started laughing.

Xu Yu smiled despite being called a glutton.

He glanced at the unprepared food on the stove and said habitually, "What's for dinner? I'll help you?"

"That doesn't require you."

Aunt Xu motioned for Xu Yanran to go play nearby, and walked over and said, "I'm going to learn how to cook from Xia Xia. You go over and rest for a while."

Aunt Xu, who had finally calmed down her sadness, didn't feel like being lazy and came over to say, "I'll learn too, so I don't have to rely on Xia Xia alone for every meal."

Xu Yu had no place to use his skills, and seeing that Sang Zhixia was pointing somewhere else at him, he simply rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the axe.

Firewood brought from the mountains cannot be burned directly. It is best to chop it into similar sizes so that it is easier to control the temperature.

He chopped wood silently. Xu Minghui looked around and picked up the bucket in silence.

Most of the water in the water tank was gone, so it was just the right time for him to fetch more.

Since there are still some side dishes from yesterday, today’s dishes are actually not much different from yesterday’s.

Sang Zhixia thought about it and decided to do something different.

Roast the eggplant and green pepper together in the stove, peel off the blackened skin burned by the flames, cut them into finger-sized pieces with a knife, sprinkle them with seasoning and make them into a cold dish.

Chop the meat from the jar into minced meat, cut the eggplant into long strips and fry it in a pan, then remove the eggplant with a strainer and drain the oil.

Heat the oil in the pan, add the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and green and red pepper, add the minced meat and stir-fry, then pour in the fried eggplant, sprinkle with the sauce mixed with soy sauce, salt and a little syrup, stir-fry evenly and serve.

Considering the limited variety of dishes, she also made an egg drop soup.

Beat four eggs in a bowl with chopsticks, stir the remaining potato starch with water, wait for the water with a little lard to boil in the pot, pour the mixed starch water into it and boil it again, when the water boils to the largest, use chopsticks to drain and slowly pour the egg liquid in the bowl into it.

Like magic, the golden egg liquid rolled up in the boiling water, and the strands of it looked like blooming flowers, which was quite pleasing to the eyes.

Wait until the frangipani in the pot is completely spread out and cooked, then sprinkle a little seasoning salt and garnish with green chopped green onions before serving.

The food on her side was all ready, and the osmanthus cake taken out of the steamer was almost cold.

When the osmanthus cake was halfway through steaming, she opened the lid and sprinkled a layer of unground dried osmanthus flowers on the surface. The finely dispersed rice flour was fixed into a large piece of osmanthus cake under the action of steam, and she cut it into small square pieces with a knife, and sprinkled some yellowish-brown syrup on each piece.

The syrup and dried osmanthus complement each other beautifully, and the sweet aroma wafting out is quite alluring.

Originally, snacks were supposed to be eaten after dinner, but the greedy gazes of the little kids were too tempting, so Sang Zhixia simply put a plate on it and handed it to Xu Wenxiu: "Grandma, take it over and let Grandpa and Grandma have a taste."

Xu Wenxiu left with a smile.

She began to put them into her hands one by one: "There are still a lot in the pot, but each person can only eat a small piece first. Eat after dinner, okay?"

Osmanthus cake is made of rice flour. If you eat too much, you won’t be able to eat a proper meal.

Xu Mingyang took a big bite and squinted his eyes at the sweetness: "So sweet!"

Xu Yanran's movements were graceful, and after finishing the meal she pursed her lips happily: "It's sweet and delicious."

Xu Mingxu, who threatened to eat five pieces by himself, had a small appetite, so Sang Zhixia broke half for him and stuffed the remaining half into Xu Yu's hand.

Xu Yu said with a smile: "Zhizhi, I..."

"I know you eat ten yuan at a time, so I'll eat this half first. Can't I just owe you nine and a half yuan?"

Sang Zhixia said anxiously, "Or do you want to cash out all ten yuan at once?"

Xu Yu never ate sweet food since he was a child, not even a single bite.

But when he heard Sang Zhixia's deliberate teasing of him, he laughed out loud for some unknown reason.

"Okay, remember to pay me what you owe me."

The pastry in my mouth was sweet, so sweet that it was sickening.

Xu Yu felt as if he had just taken a big gulp of cloying honey, and the cloying sweetness emanated from the tip of his tongue to the bottom of his heart.

He drank two bowls of water in a row to suppress the sweet taste that was burning his throat, and helped to set the table with a normal expression.

Sang Zhixia's cooking skills remained stable, but what won more applause today was the soft and sweet osmanthus cake. Even the old man who usually disliked sweets made an exception and ate an extra piece.

Those who had eaten and drunk their fill were in a good mood and were not in a hurry to return to their rooms. Instead, they sat in the yard and chatted for a rare moment.

Second Aunt Xu didn't expect Sang Zhixia to actually make something sweet. Looking at Xu Mingyang, who was chewing a mouthful of pastry crumbs, she said, "Xia Xia's cooking skills are not bad compared to the chef at Jingdian Pavilion. If she could open a stall outside, maybe she could..."

"Mom, my sister-in-law is already busy enough taking care of the food for so many people at home, how can she have the energy to set up a stall?"

Xu Minghui interrupted Aunt Xu's inappropriate remarks at the right time.

Second Aunt Xu also realized that something was wrong and said with a wry smile, "That's not what I meant. I just wanted to say that Xia Xia's cooking skills are good."

Everyone is doing all the chores in the house now, and everyone has experienced the hard work. No one would be so shameless as to ask Sang Zhixia to do anything else.

Sang Zhixia didn't care about it and said with a smile, "Setting up a stall is a way to make money, but we don't have much syrup, so we can't make much in total."

The old lady was a little curious: "I heard that the sugar you used today was made from the mountains. Is there such a thing in the forest?"

Sang Zhixia's words were answered, and she continued smoothly: "Not only that, there are quite a few."

"I thought I'd take advantage of the good weather and bring back more syrup. If I have more, maybe what Second Aunt just mentioned can be accomplished."

Proposals made rashly without seeing results are unlikely to get a response.

But since the prepared pastry has already been put into your mouth, the reliability of this thing being feasible has instantly increased a lot.

The old lady thought about it and said, "I think it's feasible."

Regardless of whether setting up a stall is a joke or really feasible, getting more syrup for free will at least ensure that you won’t be deprived of a sweet taste in the future. Isn’t what you save earned?

The others nodded in agreement, and Aunt Xu San also took the initiative to say, "Then tomorrow, while Uncle San and the others are chopping wood, we can follow Xia Xia up the mountain to collect syrup."

Xu Wenxiu smiled bitterly and said, "It's not difficult to go along and help out, but there's only one usable jar at home, and I can't find another one for now."

If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. A good cook cannot cook without rice. Such a problem cannot be a difficulty.

The old lady in charge of the finances immediately said, "Aren't we going to run out of meat? We can take this opportunity to buy some clay pots."

As if she was afraid of Sang Zhixia, she said decisively: "I will give you the silver tomorrow. You can go to the market to buy things. You don't have to worry about the housework for the time being."

In short, it was impossible for her to go to the market with Sang Zhixia, and she was determined not to go.

Sang Zhixia wasn't surprised by this result. Before agreeing, she asked, "How about Xu Yu come with me?"

Just as the old lady was about to frown, she said, "We've burned quite a bit of charcoal at home, but we haven't found a suitable market for it yet. Why don't we just have Xu Yu take the charcoal we burned yesterday to town and see what price we can get. We can also find out where to sell the charcoal we burn later. Don't fight a battle you're not prepared for."

The old lady was still considering it, and the old man laughed out loud as he thought about her words.

"You're right, we can't fight a battle without preparation."

"Yu'er, go with your wife tomorrow. She'll have someone to look after you on the way, and you can also help her carry some heavy things."

Xu Yu had no objection to any arrangement, so he nodded without saying anything else.

It’s just that it’s a rare opportunity to go to the market, and the things I want to buy can’t be just a few pottery jars.

The old lady called her three daughters-in-law to discuss the shopping list. Sang Zhixia had no say and went back to the west shed.

Not long after, Xu Yu also came back.

He handed Sang Zhixia the bowl of medicine she had to drink every day, and waited until she finished before saying, "Why did you think of asking me to go with you?"

Based on his understanding of Sang Zhixia, she really doesn't fight a battle without preparation.

From laying the groundwork to asking herself to go along, every word she said seemed to be in line with the old lady's words, but the old lady was being led by her without realizing it.

She was hiding something from herself.

Sang Zhixia hadn't expected him to be so perceptive. She was stunned for a moment and then said with amusement, "How can you be so smart?"

Brother, your nature is totally different from what has been rumored!

Xu Yu shrugged and smiled without comment, his slender and heroic eyebrows raised silently, as if asking: Tell me, what's the matter?

Sang Zhixia rubbed her face with both hands, sighed and said sullenly: "Okay, you guessed right."

"Xu Yu, can you do me a favor?"